How Your Unborn Child Got Exposed To Toxins

Kathy, a young woman who was pregnant, thought she had nothing at all to worry about when she agreed to participate in a blood examination study that would investigate the chemical levels in her body. The study focused solely on pregnant women in their second trimester. The goal of the study was to investigate the type of chemical “body burden” that future mothers might be passing on to their unborn babies.

Despite the futuristic nature of this study, Kathy felt confident. After all she had led a very healthy lifestyle. She worked as a public-health nutritionist, which is why she was so interested in seeing her results. But she thought that thanks to her health consciousness the results would be within a normal range.

But things did not turn out that way.

A couple of months after giving birth to her son, Kathy learned that her blood samples included twelve different chemicals known as endocrine disruptors. These substances have the ability to mess with your body’s power to produce hormones. Two of these chemicals called bisphenol A (BPA) and diethyl phthalate (DEP), were at levels greater than those found in 90 percent of American adults.

These results left Kathy speechless and she started wondering where and how she got exposed to these toxins. She had grown up in a small industrial town so she concluded that this might have contributed to her poisoning. However this turned out not to be the culprit of the problem, since BPA and DEP break down quickly. This means that her blood test revealed solely the chemicals in her body that were accumulated within the previous three days prior to the study.

Kathy was devastated to learn that her unborn baby as well as herself were exposed to such substances. If you think that Kathy was an isolated case then think again. Unfortunately, recent biomonitoring studies have shown that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (or EDCs) are found in pretty much all of us. To be more precise, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has discovered that BPA is found in 93% of the American population, while DEP is lingering in 75% of us.

About 40 years ago this was not the case, which makes it difficult for medical researchers to understand what the health impacts could be on children who were born by mothers suffering from chemical contamination. The problem is also not restricted to these two chemicals. In addition to the two BPA and DEP there is a large number of other product ingredients that you should avoid.

How can you protect yourself?

Recent studies suggest that keeping exposure to dangerous substances in personal care products as low as possible might help to alleviate the problem. Also, getting in contact with cleaning products that contain harsh chemicals should be avoided. Natural products are recommended to be used in your household, which refrain from including harsh chemicals that enter your body through your lungs and your skin.

These are two highly recommended solutions to decrease chemical exposure. Make sure you always read the labels of a product before using it in your home or on your skin to reduce the danger of toxins. Your kids will be healthier as a result.